Episode 24: Alain De Botton, Mudville, and Parkside Dining

This week: bestselling author Alain De Botton gets worked over… joy is found in Mudville… and Rico digs the new wave of on-site restaurant gardens.

Audio Extra

Download “Dream City” – the new single from Philadelphia band Free Energy. It’s the perfect soundtrack for summertime cruising, or for languidly driving a Trans Am off a pier into the ocean.

Drink Recipe: “Casey’s Killjoy”

On June 3rd, 1888, Ernest Thayer’s baseball rhyme “Casey At the Bat” was first published in the San Francisco Examiner. Popularized by vaudeville actor DeWolf Hopper, soon everyone in America was in love with the poem… except the author. And even he would surely appreciate this week’s drink: a Mudslide reimagined for Mudville.

Casey’s Killjoy, as created for the DPD by Colleen Raabe, bartender at the restaurant Alex & Ika’s in Cooperstown, NY:

In a shaker over ice, add:

1 shot espresso

2 oz. Irish whiskey

2 oz. Chocolate liqueur

2 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream

Shake, strain into glass filled with more ice. Serve with peanuts and cracker jacks.

After Dinner Mint

notes on this week’s show

To hear one of DeWolf Hopper’s estimated ten thousand recitals of “Casey At the Bat,” click here. (Warning: the actor was not known for his subtlety)

Speaking of important, this week’s Icebreaker comes courtesy of Glenn-5, bassist for Anvil. And if, when you hear “Anvil,” you don’t think “uplifting story of friendship,” you clearly haven’t seen the new documentary about the band’s unlikely 30-year existence, appropriately titled “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” Rectify that situation immediately, and then rejoice at the fact that after decades of obscurity, in July they’ll be opening for AC/DC in a football stadium.

Alain de Botton has penned a string of bestsellers exploring the nature of Architecture, Philosophy, Work, Status, Love, and Religion. But, y’know, maybe one of these days he’ll try to focus on something actually important.

Sponsor

This week: Actor Jason Segel turns over a new leaf, as David Foster Wallace, in the biopic "The End of the Tour"... Etiquette (and karaoke) tips from rock star writer Diablo Cody ("Ricki and the Flash")... Bobcat Goldthwait remembers Barry Crimmins, the man who brought conscience (and anger) to comedy... A taste of haute cuisine baby food, courtesy of the novel "The Kitchens of the Great Midwest"...Breakout musician Thundercat adds some crazy to the party...Plus: incendiary stoplights, magnetic moss, and more!